“In the 20th century, Hans-Georg Gadamer was one of the theorists who helped to popularize the idea of ‘historical consciousness.’ He argued that we can only ever interpret the past through our own prejudices and traditions, and that meaning emerges through a fusion of past and present ‘horizons.’ Appreciation for the subjectivity of our historical consciousness was, he suggested, a relatively new phenomenon. He believed it was ‘the privilege of modern man to have a full awareness of the historicity of everything present and the relativity of all opinions.’”
